Girl interrupted

1129 Words3 Pages

Rory Boyan Writing 1 04/19/02

Considering all the treatment methods used at Mclean Hospital, harsh physical treatments were rarely productive. Methods such as seclusion, ice-baths, Electro-shock therapy, and even the Hospitals atmosphere itself can make one wonder how anyone came out of there better than they went in. It seems odd that people teetering on the edge of sanity were subjected to such horrible treatments. Although such treatments sometimes worked, it in no way outweighs the horrible side effects that usually happen.
One of these treatments is seclusion. It is as simple as it sounds but the side effects were not. Not only are the patients totally alone for however many days the guards wanted, but they are stripped of basically everything they have except clothing. It is more of a punishment than a treatment. If a patient acts out in any way or ran away for a day or two, off to seclusion they would go. When taking mentally unstable patients and putting them in solitary confinement all they can do is sit there and think crazy thoughts; so when they come out they were usually like zombies. “One of the worst things we watched, though, was Lisa coming out of seclusion two days later.” (Page 21). How can that help anyone?
Another type of treatment used is wrapping a patient in freezing cold sheets. It is possible, by a far stretch of the imagination, this could be used to calm down patients. If hypothermia is what made people sane, this should do the trick. The last thing about this is that, when the body gets cold, the immune system get weaker. It seems like they wanted patients to get physically sick too; maybe the nurses get commission on medication.
The worst treatment used is electro shock therapy, also known as ECT. This is when one is shocked by strong amounts of electricity, repeatedly, for however long the doctors decided to keep the patients there. There are a few incidences when ECT actually worked and completely cured a patient, but these were few and far between; the truth of the treatment is much worse.
“In fact...

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...er. After all the hel, these people were put through freedom seemed all the much better. It seems that after being there, anything is better than hospital life. Think of it this way, starve a man half to death, feed him nothing but bread and water, then give him a Ritz cracker. That will be the best cracker that man has ever eaten. On the opposite end of the spectrum you give a person Ritz Crackers everyday for the rest of his life, and he will despise them. The Hospital did not treat people as much as it did make them appreciate the society they were locked off from. This is why hospitals like this can thrive; the only treatment they have is appreciation for the life they take away from a patient.

WORKS CITED PAGE
Quote #1- Page 21-FREEDOM- Girl, Interrupted

Quote #2- Page 80-SECURITY SCREEN-Girl, Interrupted

Quote #3 Page 54-CHECKS-Girl, Interrupted
Girl, Interrupted- By Susanna Kaysen Copyright 1993 Originally published by Turtle Bay Books, A Division of Random House, INC, NY 1993
Web Pages
. www.antipsychiatry.org Article on------- Psychiatry's Electro-convulsive Shock treatment
A Crime Against Humanity ---Lawrence Stevens, J.D

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